Pastor Bob Petterson

COVENANT PULPIT UNFORGIVEN: The Unpardonable Sin Mark 3:22-33 June 28, 2015 Pastor Bob Petterson Covenant Church of Naples PCA 6926 Trail Boulevard, Naples 34108 (239) 597-3464 www.covenantnaples.com

USA TODAY on April 28, 2015 carried this headline: At Supreme Court, Gay Marriage Protests Divide a Family. Jonas Minino had joined gay rights protestors in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building as oral arguments were being heard in one of the most significant cases in history: does the U.S. Constitution guarantee the right to gay marriage? Pro and anti gay crowds jostled, waved signs, and tried to outshout each other. Emotions ran at fever pitch. The stakes couldn t be higher! Among the Evangelicals present was Minino s father, a pastor who had brought busloads of people from his church. His daughter s husband, also a pastor, had brought his busfuls too. Minino looked for his family, but he never saw them. It didn t matter. They were estranged from him because of his homosexuality. As he headed home, he received a text from his preacher dad telling him that he saw him among the gay protestors. He told him that the fires of hell were real, and he would go there if he didn t repent of his homosexuality. His son texted back that he was sick of all the hateful talk. He knew that his dad would never accept him. So he told him to forget that he existed. Minino said, He s my father, and I love him. But he was angry that his dad badgered and belittled him. I m done, he said. I m done with the hate. I m done with the comments. Why do I have to go to hell because I m gay? He concluded, I ll have to find a new family. But the story doesn t end there. Our 91 year-old pastor John Summers read that story in USA TODAY and wept. Years before his gay son was dying of AIDS. But, instead of rejecting him, Pastor John took a leave of absence from his church and went to Dallas to care for his boy. Without approving of their sin, John loved his son and many of his gay friends back to Christ. John nursed Trenton with godly tenderness until his boy died in his arms and went to heaven. So, when Pastor John read the words of Jonas Minino, I ll have to find a new family, he knew that he had to seek him out. He discovered Minino s Facebook page, and introduced himself as a pastor. He told him that he had two sons, one them now in heaven. He was sorry for the pain that Jonas felt, and the way his preacher daddy had rejected him. He said that he and Betty would be pleased to have him join their family, and proud to have him as a son. Rather than telling Jonas that

he was going to hell, he promised to help him find his way to heaven. He closed by saying that he loved him unconditionally. Minino invited Pastor John to be his friend on Facebook. John says that he s one of a few heterosexuals among Jonas Facebook friends. He is also a lone Evangelical voice on that Facebook page because he s shown love without compromising truth. John lives one of our Back to Square One principles: Hate the sin, but love the sinner. So he s impacting people who ve turned their back on the church. We designed this Back to Square One series to answer two questions: how did Jesus and his disciples change their sin-sick world, and how can we do the same today? We are looking at 20 Square One principles in Mark s Gospel. In today s Square One, I want us to think about that text from Jonas pastor father: is homosexuality the thing that is going to send his son to hell? Is Jonas gay lifestyle the unforgivable sin? Is suicide an unforgivable sin? Did a racist who massacred nine African- Americans in a Charleston church commit an unforgivable sin? Are there any sins so heinous that they are beyond God s redemption? In Mark 3:29, Jesus says that there is a sin that will never be forgiven He calls it an eternal sin. In other words, a sin that will be held against the sinner forever. What is that sin? In verse 29 Jesus calls it blasphemies against the Holy Spirit. We define that as our sixth Square One principle: The Only Sin that Cannot be Forgiven is Any Sin not brought to Jesus Christ. In short, every sin has the potential of being the unforgivable sin, no matter how small it might seem. On the other hand, no sin needs to be unforgivable, no matter how huge or heinous it may be. It all depends on whether or not that sin is brought to Jesus Christ. Let me explain by taking you to Mark s Gospel. Jesus is shaking things up. Whenever Jesus shows up, he generates a firestorm. His ideas are so radical that people will either be attracted or angry. But no one can ignore Jesus. If your faith isn t creating waves [or at least some ripples], maybe you should ask whether you are living like Jesus. If Covenant Church of Naples isn t creating a buzz [both positive and negative], we need to question whether we are saying and doing what Jesus

would say and do. May Southwest Florida love us or hate us, but never shrug us off as irrelevant! Mark 3:9 says, Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. The Pharisees are the religious elite. Every time Jesus shows up in world history, the religious establishment gets the heebie-jeebies. People want Jesus to be what they need him to be. They like Christianity safe, predictable, comfortable, and user friendly. Then Jesus shows up in glory and power, and the Frozen Chosen are set ablaze with Holy Spirit fire. The church is shaken up. But folks in power get rattled when the Real Jesus shows up. Like the Pharisees they feel like they re losing control. So they try to shove the Real Jesus back into their little religious box. I m convinced that if the Real Jesus who walked the earth 2,000 years ago showed up, a lot of church folks would still want to crucify him. St. Mark says that the Herodians join in the plot to eliminate Jesus. These are the followers of King Herod s sons, the three puppet kings of Israel set up by the Romans that want to keep the peace with Rome. The Herodians see Jesus as a social agitator. When the Real Jesus grabs hold of Christians, they get radical. Their ideas and lifestyles disturb the status quo. Fully devoted followers of Jesus won t stay silent in the face of evil. They refuse to stay hidden in their churches and practice a private religion. They re not satisfied to nod like politically correct bobble heads when people say, Any way that you choose to believe or live is okay as long as you re sincere. They actually push back gently and say, Jesus is the only way. When they said that in Rome, they got thrown to the lions. When they said that in the Soviet Union, they were shipped off to Siberia. What will happen to us fully devoted Christ followers in an America that increasingly sees biblical values as intolerant and hateful? Only time will tell. But know this: when the Real Jesus shows up in you, religious folk will get riled up and so will the secular folk who want to rearrange the cultural landscape. Back to Mark s account. Verse 22 tells us that the religious Gestapo have come down from the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus has just cast evil spirits out of demon-possessed people. The crowds are excited. But these religious spoil sports rain on everyone s parade: He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the

prince of demons he is driving out demons. (verse 22) Beelzebub literally means the Lord of the flies. It was one of the Jewish nicknames for the devil. They are literally saying that Satan possesses Jesus, and he gets his power to cast out demons from the prince of demons. Jesus responds with brilliant logic in verses 23-27. His argument can be boiled down to this: why would the prince of demons, who wants to destroy people s lives by sending his devils into them, turn around and drive them out. That would be tad amount to Satan attacking Satan. Then Jesus hammers it home: A house divided against itself cannot stand. (verse 25) Case closed! But Jesus doesn t stop there. He goes after these religious elitists: Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin. (vv28&29) There it is: the unforgivable sin! And these temple bullyboys are committing it. If you have ever worried about committing the unforgivable sin, then you want to pay close attention. Your eternity hangs in the balance! So what is this unforgivable sin? Jesus uses the word blasphemy. It comes from the Greek word blasphemia, a combination of two words: blaptō, which means to injure or wound, and phemē, which means to speak. Blasphemy is to speak against something or someone in a cruel and destructive way. It is to wound others with the tongue. One theologian calls it a tongue-sin. But it goes deeper than the words you say. Matthew 12:34 records this from Jesus: Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. We say cruel and hateful words with our mouth because we have bitterness and anger in our hearts. Blasphemy is really a heart sin that is evidenced by a nasty tongue and words. Blasphemy in and of itself is not an unforgivable sin. If that were the case, we would all be doomed for the many destructive words with which we have clobbered others. Even blasphemy against God the Father is not unforgivable. If that were true, all the angry things that suffering Job railed against God would have been unforgivable. None of us who have ever mocked God, misused his name, or shaken our fist at him in anger, would be forgiven. Blasphemy against God the Son, Jesus Christ, is not unforgivable. St. Paul said that before he gave his life to Christ, I was a blasphemer, persecutor and insolent opponent [of

Jesus Christ]. (1 Timothy 1:13) But it is only blasphemy against the Third Person of the Triune God, the Holy Spirit, that Jesus says is unforgivable. Why him alone? Three reasons: 1. ONLY THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN REVEAL THE REAL JESUS. The Bible is clear: people are spiritually blind. Even those closest to Jesus didn t figure out who he was. John 1:10 says of Jesus, though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. John 1:11 goes on to say, He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. The great Son of Abraham came to the children of Abraham and, as a nation, Israel rejected him. The Jews had the Torah and the writings of prophets who predicted the Messiah down to the minutest details. Jesus fulfilled every Jewish prophecy. But Judaism didn t receive him. Yet many Jews did. Jesus had become a celebrity, a religious superstar. The crowds who follow him are immense. Jesus is harried and overworked. So Mark 3:21 records, When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, He is out of his mind. Before he was even born, angels from heaven had told his mother Mary who he was. But she now thinks he s a crazy man. His half-brothers and sisters have grown up with him. They have never seen him commit a single sin or say a bad word. They heard him declare in their home synagogue that he is the Messiah promised by the Prophet Isaiah. Yet they think he is out of his mind. Even those of us who are members of Christ s family today can have a false view of who Jesus really is. The religious leaders of Israel think that he is possessed by Satan. Even preachers can be mistaken about Jesus. Some of the biggest falsehoods are preached from church pulpits! The Son of God comes and the world he created doesn t recognize him. The chosen people of God don t embrace their own Messiah. Even his family doesn t see him as Savior. The Pharisees, who know the Old Testament prophecies better than anyone, think that he is full of the devil. We are all blind to the Real Jesus. But the Holy Spirit writes the Scriptures that reveal who he really is. The Holy Spirit gives Jesus the power to cast out demons as proof that he is God in the flesh. The Holy Spirit reveals that he is no mere man who is given to fits of craziness, or even a good man, or even a prophet, or great

teacher. He is infinitely more than that! He is the Son of the Living God! The One who casts out demons, has come to seek and save lost people. Is the Holy Spirit revealing to you today that Jesus is the only Savior of the World, the Lord of Creation, and King of kings? If you say with the Pharisees that he is not, then you are blaspheming the Holy Spirit. You are calling him a liar, just like they did. If you don t recognize who Jesus is, then you have no hope of heaven. Acts 4:12 says, there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we can be saved. In other words, unless you bring your sins to Jesus and let him pay the price for them, there is no way they can be forgiven. This is the unpardonable sin that will hang over your head throughout a lost eternity! 2. ONLY THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN CONNECT US TO JESUS. In verse 28 Jesus says, Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter There it is: there is not a sin that can t be forgiven. But there is only one way. 1 John 1:7 says, the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin. No sin is so heinous, or so filthy, that the blood of Jesus can t make the foulest sinner clean again. But there is only one remedy. Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) We can t come into God s presence unless we come with Jesus. He won t see us as righteous unless we re in Jesus. There s no bridge across the infinite chasm between us and a Holy God except the Cross. So how do we connect to Jesus? It s through the Holy Spirit. He opens our eyes to see Jesus for who he is: our Savior and Lord. He makes us come alive to Jesus. He convicts us of sin. He shows us the cross. He draws us irresistibly to Jesus. He works repentance in us. He gives us the faith to believe, and then he applies the work of Christ to us. He connects us to Jesus. Then he fills us with the presence and power of Jesus to live life the way God wants us to do it. But if, like those religious leaders, we refuse to believe that all that is true, then we are saying that the Holy Spirit is a liar. We might as well say that he is telling us that he is just a crazy rabbi from Nazareth rather than the Savior of the world. Or that he is devil-

possessed. We are guilty of the worst blaspheme of all: denying the only way we can be saved. That truly is the unpardonable sin! If we persist in this to the end, we have shut the door of heaven to ourselves. 3. TO REJECT THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS UNFORGIVABLE! It can t be said enough times. Let the words of verse 28 sink in: but whoever blasphemes against he Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin. No words should fill us with more fear or hope. FEAR because the time will come when it is too late. The Bible says, Today is the day of salvation now is the acceptable time (2 Corinthians 6:2) Hebrews 3:15 says, Today when you hear his voice, don t harden your hearts The Holy Spirit was screaming through Jesus as he cast out demons that day: Look, he s the Son of God. He wants to cast out all your demons, and wash away all your sins. But the temple boys hardened their hearts. Every time you harden your heart, it becomes harder to believe. No one knows when our last breath will come. But then it will be too late. But there is also HOPE. Jesus says in verse 35, Whoever does God s will is my brother and sister and mother. The adulteress brings her sin to Jesus and he says, I will not condemn you. The thief on the cross brings his wretched life of sins to Jesus and he says, Today you will be with me in paradise. Back to the beginning of this talk. That gay man s homosexuality won t send him to hell. Nor will the struggles and sins of your life [and each of us struggles with different things]. Only one thing is unforgivable: not to believe the Holy Spirit s witness to Jesus, and refuse to lay our sins at the foot of the cross and receive Jesus as our Savior. But, every sin brought to him will be pardoned. Copyright June 28, 2015 by Covenant Church of Naples PCA